Every team in the Anthony Davis trade might have to wait and see if the Lakers sign Kawhi Leonard
Update: Good news for the Pelicans, Hawks and Wizards!
Kawhi Leonard is the most important man in the NBA right now, and not just because his free agency decision will likely decide the long-term fates of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Toronto Raptors.
Leonard is also important because, despite seemingly narrowing down his free agent list to only three teams, more than a third of the league’s teams are now waiting for his decision. Not just due to interest, but because they have to. And it’s mostly because of the Lakers.
Could Kawhi Leonard hold up the Anthony Davis trade even further?
The main reason why so many teams are waiting for Leonard to make his decision is the Anthony Davis trade. And not just the initial move that sent Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and a litany of draft picks to the Pelicans for Davis.
No, the Anthony Davis trade has become so, so much bigger. Due to league rules that have forced the Lakers to wait until July 6 to execute their grand plan to land the New Orleans Pelicans superstar, every cascading move that has come out of the AD trade is essentially just another part of the AD trade.
So, the Pelicans trading the No. 4 pick, the Lakers moving the last vestigial parts of their roster for cap space, offloading Solomon Hill and every draft pick involved. All of that is waiting for the Davis trade to go through, and it all might have to be put on hold if Leonard hasn’t made his decision by Saturday morning.
Additionally, there is the Utah Jazz, who are waiting for the Derrick Favors trade to go through before they can sign their own free agent in Bojan Bogdanovic.
As Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights summarizes, we are looking at eight different teams and 21 different players waiting on the Davis trade that might not happen until Leonard signs.
All told, I count eight teams and 21 total players affected directly by the AD trade being pushed back. Lakers, Pelicans, Wizards, Hawks, Sixers, Pistons, Grizzlies, and Jazz are all affected, as well as the attached list of players pic.twitter.com/Yera2e35yL
— Jeff Siegel (@jgsiegel) July 5, 2019
But that’s not all! As Siegel notes, you also have the Clippers and Raptors waiting to see if they will or will not sign use their cap space on one of the NBA’s biggest superstars before making any other moves. And then there’s Danny Green, who also seems to be waiting on Leonard, and the Dallas Mavericks, who seem focused on Green.
Why do the Lakers need to wait for Kawhi?
In case you’re wondering why Leonard or any combination of free agents worth a max slot have to actually sign before the Lakers can execute the Davis trade, ESPN’s Bobby Marks broke down the cap space math on Thursday.
“We’re really in a time crunch with Kawhi’s decision.”
-@BobbyMarks42 on how the timing of Kawhi Leonard’s decision impacts the Lakers. pic.twitter.com/onuY84HlKo— Golic and Wingo (@GolicAndWingo) July 4, 2019
“The order of operations, what’s supposed to happen is that the Lakers are going to use their $32 million in cap space with or without Kawhi Leonard,” Marks said. “They’re going to sign Kawhi or free agents and build out the roster, and then they’re going to do the Anthony Davis trade. That’s how it has to work.
“You do the Davis trade before the free agency, then you lose that max cap slot. I don’t think we’ve talked about it enough, but we’re really getting into this time crunch.”
If the Lakers were to execute the trade on Saturday as planned, their cap space would shrink to $30 million, per ESPN, forcing Leonard to sign for less than the max if he wants to there.
So basically, we’re dealing with an offseason plan set up by the Lakers that resembles an enormous NBA roster move Rube Goldberg machine that is supposed to end with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard on the same roster. No matter the cost.
How will this end for the Lakers?
Fortunately for the Lakers, ESPN reports that the Pelicans, Wizards and Hawks are all expected to cooperate with the Lakers if Leonard is still undecided by noon ET on Saturday.
Clearly, a lot of these moves were made thinking that all of the major free agent decisions would be made once the signing period opened. That wasn’t a bad assumption given that basically every major free agent save for Leonard and DeMarcus Cousins had a deal in place within two days of free agency opening.
Then again, it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Leonard is moving at his own pace. It’s reportedly not likely that any of the teams roped into the Davis deal will demand it go through rather than waiting, though the Lakers again seem to again be opening themselves to an awful lot of risk as they try and assemble the NBA’s newest superteam.
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